Silence Kid
New member
I learned these existed a while ago and have been infatuated, fetishizing them... I had a mind to grab one, but there's not much data out there, in particular info toward ID'ing a fake; after all, a "US Squier!" on the internet is probably fraud more often than not. I've tried to record what appears to be accurate to these. I might finally pick one up now, so figured might as well post my "research" to tacitly solicit opinions.
These guitars seem to have just been a factory mishmash, not to mention susceptibile to owner mods and dirty tricks. Trying to follow them when they pop up online, a loose pattern is visible among at least several gens/sub-gens... I wonder if anyone can add to this, feel free to try.
Gen 1 : Early '89 (?)
-Truss adjust in heel
-"Straight across" middle screws in the cavity cover on the back
-SN engraved to neck plate
-Single-mag ceramic pickups
-D-shaped sealed tuners
-Maple or Rosewood board
-Squier Bullet-style pickguard holes (screw by switch is farther from the rear bout)
-Small zinc trem block/zinc saddles
-Swimming pool body with odd route pattern *perhaps not all?*
-American (non-mini) potentiometers *perhaps not all?*
Gen 1.5 : '89 - '90 (?)
Same as above, but:
-SN on headstock (N8/9****** format)
Gen 2 : '90 - '91 (?)
Same as above, but:
-Plastic headstock adjust
-MiM-style double-mag ceramic pickups
-"Staggered" screws on cavity cover *perhaps not all? Swear I see them this way but can't google a pic...*
Gen 2.1 : '90 - (Unconfirmed?)
Same as above, but with "Fender" on the headstock instead of "Squier" ("Fender," "Made in USA" and US serial, but cheaper Squier appointments and no walnut plug/six point trem, etc... A lot like how MiM Fender/Squiers/"Squier Series" of the era can be very similar.) A thread I link to below offers detail that they might have been non-US market? Possible counterfeit or decal swap, but examples of these seem consistent at least with each other?
Gen 3 : '99 - '00 (or '89 - '90... questionable?)
Possible headstock typo but a popular one; maybe they mixed up the newer 'N' necks on guitars with a suffix year digit in the eighties? But somewhat different guitars, and they seem to look "newer" than other USA Squiers. One poster on TDPRI doesn't offer support of them being late-nineties guitars, but says they even wound up with two point trems at one point. What I've observed though:
-Some older pattern Squier pickguard holes/some standard US (one-ply?)
-American Standard style tuners
-Plastic headstock adjust
-"Straight" screws on cavity cover
-Steel saddles
EXAMPLES:
Caveat, these examples are all ripped off from somewhere, you can reverse google to prove it... Didn't take any of these pics, I just took the time to catalog them from the giant "saved guitar" folder on my computer:
G1 :
No decal serial
Old style
G1.5 :
Odd route, single-mag pickups, cheap switch, full size pots (I think?)
G2 :
Plastic adjust
Full size pots and switch to keep, and double-mags ready to be ripped out
G2.1 :
Real decal, or replacement? Other less noteworthy pics of the same guitar show it seems to check out as a Squier spec...
G3 :
Mistaken serial?
"Standard" pickguard screw pattern, and saddles... Or swapped?
'Standard' style tuners...
Straight across screws...
These guitars seem to have just been a factory mishmash, not to mention susceptibile to owner mods and dirty tricks. Trying to follow them when they pop up online, a loose pattern is visible among at least several gens/sub-gens... I wonder if anyone can add to this, feel free to try.
Gen 1 : Early '89 (?)
-Truss adjust in heel
-"Straight across" middle screws in the cavity cover on the back
-SN engraved to neck plate
-Single-mag ceramic pickups
-D-shaped sealed tuners
-Maple or Rosewood board
-Squier Bullet-style pickguard holes (screw by switch is farther from the rear bout)
-Small zinc trem block/zinc saddles
-Swimming pool body with odd route pattern *perhaps not all?*
-American (non-mini) potentiometers *perhaps not all?*
Gen 1.5 : '89 - '90 (?)
Same as above, but:
-SN on headstock (N8/9****** format)
Gen 2 : '90 - '91 (?)
Same as above, but:
-Plastic headstock adjust
-MiM-style double-mag ceramic pickups
-"Staggered" screws on cavity cover *perhaps not all? Swear I see them this way but can't google a pic...*
Gen 2.1 : '90 - (Unconfirmed?)
Same as above, but with "Fender" on the headstock instead of "Squier" ("Fender," "Made in USA" and US serial, but cheaper Squier appointments and no walnut plug/six point trem, etc... A lot like how MiM Fender/Squiers/"Squier Series" of the era can be very similar.) A thread I link to below offers detail that they might have been non-US market? Possible counterfeit or decal swap, but examples of these seem consistent at least with each other?
Gen 3 : '99 - '00 (or '89 - '90... questionable?)
Possible headstock typo but a popular one; maybe they mixed up the newer 'N' necks on guitars with a suffix year digit in the eighties? But somewhat different guitars, and they seem to look "newer" than other USA Squiers. One poster on TDPRI doesn't offer support of them being late-nineties guitars, but says they even wound up with two point trems at one point. What I've observed though:
-Some older pattern Squier pickguard holes/some standard US (one-ply?)
-American Standard style tuners
-Plastic headstock adjust
-"Straight" screws on cavity cover
-Steel saddles
EXAMPLES:
Caveat, these examples are all ripped off from somewhere, you can reverse google to prove it... Didn't take any of these pics, I just took the time to catalog them from the giant "saved guitar" folder on my computer:
G1 :
No decal serial
Old style
G1.5 :
Odd route, single-mag pickups, cheap switch, full size pots (I think?)
G2 :
Plastic adjust
Full size pots and switch to keep, and double-mags ready to be ripped out
G2.1 :
Real decal, or replacement? Other less noteworthy pics of the same guitar show it seems to check out as a Squier spec...
G3 :
Mistaken serial?
"Standard" pickguard screw pattern, and saddles... Or swapped?
'Standard' style tuners...
Straight across screws...
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